State Patrol and firefighters on the scene of a three-vehicle accident that occurred Dec. 9 on the U.S. 41 northbound Breezewood Lane/Bell Street exit in Neenah.

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After lamenting a jump in traffic-related fatalities in Wisconsin in 2012, transportation and police officials are buoyed by a sharp reduction in road deaths in 2013.

"It's a good trend," said David Pabst, director of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Safety. "Now we have to hang on to it."

In 2012, a total of 601 people died on Wisconsin roads - 36 more than in 2011. Fatalities fell to 530 last year, due primarily to a sharp drop in passenger deaths and a 28 percent decrease in motorcycle deaths, according to Pabst. ...